An antenna may have one or more beams that are desirably scanned over an area. The scanning can be accomplished by mechanical, electronic, or a combination of mechanical and electronic techniques. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,202,015 to Moul, Jr. et al. discloses an antenna system having two arcuate drive members transversely connected to a support base. Each drive members has a track that engages, and is advanced across a respective drive unit connected to the support base. The advancement of each track by the respective drive unit positions an antenna connected to the two drive members.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,439,550 to Goulding discloses a gimbal mechanism having a pair of helically threaded rods of circular arcuate configuration disposed in mutually perpendicular planes and a ball nut on each rod. The ball nut is rotated by a drive unit to pivot the arcuate rod about its center of curvature thereby positioning an antenna connected to the arcuate rods.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,191,749 and 6,611,236 to Nilsson disclose an antenna system having four rotatably mounted arcuate members connected to a base. The first arcuate member includes a circular cog path adapted to be rotated around a first axis by a drive unit connected to the base. The second, third, and fourth arcuate members are connected to the first arcuate member and each is driven by a respective drive unit thereby permitting each arcuate member to rotate around a respective axis.
Unfortunately, the conventional antenna positioning systems may be relatively large, complex, and expensive. This results in such systems requiring a large deployment footprint, increased maintenance and reliability problems, and fewer deployments due to cost considerations.